Machine for drawing wire



May a, 1924.

K. B. LEWIS MACHINE FOR DRAWING WIRE NETH n. LEWIS,

01E WORCESTEB, M ASSACQEUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO MORGAN. CON- STRUCTION- COMPANY, OF WORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS, A CORPORATION OF MASSACHUSETTS.

macnrnn non nnawme man.

. Application fi 1ed August 25, 1921. Serial No. 495,186.

, To all whom it may concern.

Be it known that I, KENNETH B. LEWIS, a citizen of the United States, residing at Worcester, in the county of-Worcester and 5 Commonwealth of Massachusetts, have invented a new and useful Improvement in a Machine for Drawing Wire, of which the 'following, together with the accompanying drawings,is a specification. a ll@ chine for drawing wire by the continuous method; more specifically, the invention involves improvements and refinements in the type of continuous wire drawing machin- 110 ery that is shown and described in Letters Patent of the United States, No. 1,198,111, issued September 12, 1916 to R. D. Connor reissued as No. 15,205, dated October 11, 1921. m The invention resides 'n the several combinations and arrangement of parts hereinafter described and specifically pointed out in the annexed claims, reference being had to the accompanying drawings in 95 which,

Fig. 1 is a top view, partly insection, showing a continuous wire drawing machine constructed in accordance with the present invention portions of the bench cover be- 80 ing removed to disclose the interior construction.

Fig. 2 is a view of the machine in side elevation, one of the drawing drums being shown in vertical section.

35 Like reference characters refer to like parts in the different figures.

In the continuous wire drawing machine which is shown and described in the aforesaid patent toConnor, the several drawing 4Y9 drums or blocks operate not only as capstans to pull the wire through the preceding die, but also serve as storage devices, or accumulators, for slack wire which may be removed therefrom by uncoiling, as distinguished from unwinding; in this way, when drawing wire by the continuous method, the reduction accomplished by any die may be either greater or less than that implied by the relative speeds of the blocks preceding and following. It follows therefi 'f fore, in this type of machine, that the necessity for accuracy in the several dies is eliminated, as well as the necessity for increasing the peripheral speeds of the successlve The present invention relates to a ma-- drawing blocks in proportion to the elongation of the wire.

A machine constructed to operate on this same principle is shown in the accompanying drawings where a suitable bench or table 1 provides for the'rotative support of a series of blocks or drums 2, 2. .As shown in Fig. 2, each block or drum .2 is secured to a hub member 3, the latter having an elongated bearing upon a hollow post or upright 4 which is concentrically positioned and secured within a cup-like depression 5 of the table 1. Each hub 3 has secured theretoa beveled gear 6, located within the depression 5, and the several gears 6 are respectively in mesh with beveled pinions 7 7, formed, as

shown in Fig. 1 on the ends of suitably journaled members 8, 8'. The members 8, 8 at their other ends, provide beveled gears'9, 9 in mesh with beveled pinions 10, 10 which. are secured at appropriate points'to the shafting 11, the latter running horizontally the whole length of the machine, and being driven by a belt 12 or the like from a motor or other prime mover 13. y

In common With the machine shown and described in the aforesaid Connor patent, each drawing block 2 carries a reel-like extensionconsisting of columns 14:, 1 1, the latter being surmounted, except in the case of the last block, by a dome-shaped member 15. Each member 15 is open at the cen-' ter, as shown at 16, for the passage of the wire downwardly and centrally through a tube or guide 17 which connects with the vertical opening 18 of the corresponding hollow post or upright 1. The wire as it leaves the bottom of each opening 18 passes under a suitable guide pulley 19, being directed upwardly by the latter so as to pass over another guide pulley 20, which brings it into line with the die 21 that is associated with the next succeeding drawing block of i the machine.

This construction of each block, involving downward axial passageof the wire therethrough, precludes the driving of the blocks through their respective spindles, and necessitates the use, as above described, of fixed spindles 1, 4: in conjunction with a peripheral, rather than an axial, gear drive. The particular form of peripheral gear drive. herein adopted lends itself especially to a machine of the above described type,

since none of the gearing 7, 8, 9, 10, or shafting 11, is below the bench, where, in order to avoid interference with the sheaves 19, 19, it would have to stand below the floor level,-but on the other hand, is substantially at the bench level, and thus is accessible for assemblage, inspection, repair and lubrication. In addition, the entire trans-- mission mechanism, the caring and the shafting occupy substantia ly a single llOIlzontal plane, and hence is susceptible of lubrication in one-common oil bath, the latter inclose'd by the bench 1 and by the removable cover sections 24 thereof.

In the operation of a machine of this type, each drawing block 2 constitutes, in effect, a variable stora e device, the amount of wire accumulated thereon being increased or decreased in accordance with the demands of the next succeeding block. In other words,

as described in theaforesaid patent to Connor, the wire is drawn onto each block 2 at the same peripheral speed at which said block is geared to rotate, due to the maintenance ofa suitable slight tension produced for example by the sprin band 22; but the wire is free to leave the lock ata rate of speed either faster or slower than the fixed peripheral speed of said block, due to the fact that its, mode of delivery permits it to be uncoiled, as distinguished from unwound.

This construction, as described in the aforesaid Connor patent, permitsa mode" of operation for the machine, involving successive increases in the peripheral speeds of the several blocks 2, 2, by suitable roportioning of the driving gears 6, 7, 9 and 10; however, it is not necessary that such increases bear any definite and'fixed relation to the elongation of the wire as accomplished by its reduction in the preceding die 21, and preferably, the gearing is so arranged with relation to the reduction accomplished by the dies that a gradual accumulation of wire takes place on each block. Under these conditions, after all of a given piece of stock has undergone reduction in the first die 21 of the series, the preceding or first drum 2 being empty, considerable time would have to elapse before such parts could again be brought into operation; either that, or else during the runout of the material on the fi succeeding drums, there would have to be frequent stoppages of the machine in vorder to thread up a new piece of stock, and each such stoppage would involve an interruption of several minutes in the operation of the succeeding blocks. 7

According to the present invention the disadvantages above enumerated are overcome by a construction which permits the operator to perform the necessary work of threading up a new piece of stock while the machine continues to handle and reduce the preceding piece of st0ck,-thus greatly increasing the efficiency and capacity of the mechanism. To this end in the present construction, the main driving shaft 11 is actuated from the end at which the final or finishing block 2 of the series is located, and said main shaft'll, from which each block derives its rotation is divided into a plurality of parts, each part corresponding to and including one or more of the individual sets of gearing 9, 10, that connect said shaft to the blocks 2, 2. As shown in Fig. 1, the parts or divisions of the shafting 11 are adapted to be connected together, for rotation in unison by means of any suitable coupling or clutch device, as for instance friction clutches 23. In this way the entire machine,

for purpose of control, may be divided either i into single blocks or into a plurality of groups of blocks, depending upon the number of clutches 23 employed.

In the operation of the mechanism, the final or finishing block, or the group containing such block will operate continuously as long as power is supplied from the motor or other prime mover 13. The clutch or clutches 23, being normally engaged, will secure also the operation of the preceding blocks or group of blocks in the usual manner. When however, it is desired to interrupt the rotation of ablockorblocks in advance of the final group, either for the purpose of threading up anew piece'of stock, or for any other purpose, the clutch 23 is disengaged, whereupon not only will the selected block or group of blockscease to 1'0- tate, but also all preceding blocks or 'groups of blocks will simultaneously stop,thus eliminating any possibility of twisting, tangling or'breaking the wire. Notwithstanding this stoppage, there will be no interruption to the production of finished wire by the machine, since all succeeding blocks or groupsof blocks will continue to rotate, and will draw off the accumulated wire on the stationary block immediately preceding by the uncoiling of same from the top thereof as previously described. :7:

In the construction here adopted for purpose of illustration, a four-blocked continuous machine, two clutches 23L-are shown, being applied to the shafting 11 between the rst and second and the second and third blocks of the series; obviously, however, in a machine involving the same or a greater number of reductions, the number of such clutches may beincreased or, diminished, either to divide said machine, for purpose of control, into units consisting of single blocks,'or into units or oups'consisting of two or more blocks, as desired in any case the principle is the same, a the advanaeeaeee the several blocks 2, 2 from shafting 11 brings the application of the driving force .foreach block as near as possible to the point of draft, or the point where the wire passes tangentially onto the block, while at the same time meeting the requirement that the shafting 11 be on the opposite side of the machine from the dies 21 in order not to obstruct access of the operator to the latter. This arrangement also involves the maximum length for the. cone element of the sets of bevel gears 6, 7 and 9, 10 whereby to minimize the wearthereon due to thrust. Furthermore, any tendency of block 2 to rock or tilt on its associated hub' member 3 is resisted by the engagement of an annular rib 24 of the block 7 with a similar rib 25 on bevel gear- 6;*"a's" shown in Fig. 2.

I claim,

1. In a machine for drawing wire by the continuous method, the combination withaj series of rotatable drawingblockswhereon the wire is normally wound up at a faster rate than it is delivered therefrom,

v of means for procuring the stoppage of certain of said blocks during the run out of the wire on the succeeding blocks of the series.

2. In a machine for drawing wire by the 'continuous method, the combination with a series of rotatable drawing blocks whereon the wire is normally wound up at a faster rate than it is delivered therefrom, of means whereby the, stoppage of a given block or group of blocks in the series prd cures the stoppage also of all preceding blocks, while permitting the run off of the wire on the succeeding blocks of the series.

3. In a machine for drawing wire by the continuous method, the combination with a series of rotatable drawing blocks, each serving as a variable storage device for the wire in process of reduction, of a multipart divisible driving shaft common to all of .said blocks, and driven itself from the finishing endof the machine.

for drawing wire by the 4. In a machin continuous method, the combination with a series of rotatable drawing blocks, each serving as a variable storage device for the wire in process of reduction, of shafting, driven from the finishing end of the chine, to which all of said blocks are operatively connected, and means for selectively procuring the-division of said shafting at points between its operative conmotionsto the blocks, wherebyto discontinue the rotation of all blocks preceding t e of the wire on the remaining blocks of the series.

5. In a machine for drawing wire by the.

point of division during the run ofl v continuous method, the combination with a 1 series of dies and a series of rotatable drums, of a; driving shaft running longituiiinally of the machine on the opposite side of said drums from said dies, a coneentric gear secured. to eachdrum atv-the base thereof, and bevel gearing for transmitting the rotation-of-saidshaft, in an oblique d1- i'ection, to each of said concentric gears.

" 6. In a machine for drawing wire by the continuous method, the combinatio'nWnth a series of dies and a series of upright rotatable drawing drums, of transmission mechanism for imparting rotationto all of said drums, said transmission mechanism" being disposed in a horizontal plane on the opposite side of said drums from said dies. 7. In a machine for drawing wire by the continuous method, the combination with a bench, of a series of rotatable drawing drums, and transmission mechanism inclosed in said bench at. one side of said drums for imparting rotation to all of said drums.

8. In a machine for drawing wire by the continuous method, the combination with a series of dies and a series of rotatable drums, of a driving shaft running longitudinally of the machine on the opposite sides of said drums from said dies, and means extending obliquely to the axis of said shaft for connecting it rotatively with each ofsaid'drums. r r

Dated this 19th da of, August, 1921. KE TH B. LEWIS. 

